LISBON Jan 12 (Reuters) - Portugal Telecom SGPS
shareholders on Monday postponed until Jan. 22 a vote on the
sale of its former operations by its merger partner, Brazil's Oi
, complicating the 7.4 billion euro deal and possibly
casting doubts on the long-agreed merger.

The decision is the culmination of a merger that went sour
last year when a company belonging to the bankrupt Espirito
Santo family defaulted on 900 million euros of loans from
Portugal Telecom SGPS, which the Portuguese company had not
informed Oi about.

Portugal Telecom's clout in the new, merged company was
subsequently reduced, and the heavily indebted Brazilian
telecoms group Oi has now accepted a 7.4 billion euro bid by the
French-based Altice for the Portuguese telecoms
operations, which were transferred to Oi under the merger.

"The meeting was suspended. The new meeting is set for Jan.
22," said a shareholder present at the meeting.

The vote had been called into question by a number of
stakeholders as the sale would effectively unwind last year's
merger, which is not yet legally finalised and left Portugal
Telecom as a holding company with a 25.6 percent stake in the
enlarged Oi group.

Oi's sale of the Portuguese telecoms operations to Altice
still needs the approval of Portugal Telecom SGPS's
shareholders, prompting questions about whether the entire
merger deal with Oi should be addressed in the process.

"There has already been a lot of uncertainty around this
deal and now it means that it's here to stay," said Albino
Oliveria, an anlayst at Fincor brokers.
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